Marte Um

Dramatising the social upheaval among Brazil's poor while their country teeters on the edge of democracy, Mars One paints a fascinating portrait of a lower-middle-class black family feeling the strain of their new reality and delivers as a finely carved slice of everyday life that's further strengthened by sincere performances from the quartet that make the household.

Written & directed by Gabriel Martins, the story is character-driven and benefits a lot from the full-fledged personalities inhabiting the script, each bestowed with tangible identities which in turn also makes the audience want to invest in their journey. Through their personal struggle & desires, the film addresses various topics & themes prevalent in families living on the outskirts.

All four characters are given equal priority & sufficient screen time by the director and despite the tone being grim & heartbreaking, it still manages to find some wickedly hilarious scenes in the process. As with every family drama, it is the conflicts & relationships with each other that drives the narrative and the actors play their roles convincingly, both individually & as a family unit.

Overall, Mars One is competently crafted & patiently told but whether it's going to work for you or not depends a lot on how invested you are in their lives & problems. Otherwise, its slow pace & meandering plot can make it a chore to sit through. Not everything lands right, for the proper cohesiveness of all the subthreads isn't there but there is ample that viewers can connect with one way or another.

Originally premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition selection.

Marte Um (Mars One) is directed by Gabriel Martins and it's the story about The Martins family who are optimistic dreamers, quietly leading their lives in the margins of a major Brazilian city following the disappointing inauguration of a far-right extremist president. A lower-middle-class Black family, they feel the strain of their new reality as the political dust settles. Originally I had no interest on seeing this one because it sounded like a basic family movie that may be cheesy. But when it premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, I decided to give it a chance.

It surprised me honestly. There is a lot to appreciate about this movie. Director Gabriel Martins has definitely proved himself that he is talent with his movies when it comes to demonstrating family dynamics, characters and the approach on harsh reality. The camerawork is well shot throughout as it helped to display the atmosphere and environment of the movie's setting. Helps to build the character and understand them for what they are going through. All the performances are well done particular actors Carlos Francisco and Camilla Damião does an amazing job capturing the personality of their characters. The soundtrack is fitting and many moments were touching and quite satisfying at the end of the day.

Family dynamic films can be interesting and rough to watch depending how you view because every family has experience different ways of going through life and going through the hardships. But Director Martins succeeds with his family dramatic movie with heartfelt moments that may make you cry.

Wholesome.

Rating: A-

The movie "Mars One" delves into the daily lives of a typical low-middle-class family residing in the urban landscape of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Against the backdrop of a far-right political change, the family grapples with their individual challenges and dreams enhancing their humanity and resilience.

What enhances the movie's authenticity and emotional impact is its depiction of a black family: the father working as a building janitor, the mother employed as a maid, their daughter juggling law studies and tutoring, and their teenage son's dreams of becoming an astrophysicist. In this context, the very good director and creator Gabriel Martins crafts parallel storylines for each character, which are bound to intertwine and intersect as the film unfolds.

The story unfolds around a father's ambition to nurture his son into a professional football player, a mother struggling with emotional trauma and a belief in her ability to bring bad luck to everyone around her, a daughter defying her parents' conservative ideals to follow her own path, and a son torn between fulfilling his father's expectations and pursuing his fascination with the cosmos. The movie's beauty emanates from the delicate, original, and authentic performances of each character, with Rejane Faria's portrayal of Tercia, the mother, deserving special recognition. She serves as the guiding force weaving together all these stories.

"Mars One" is a heartfelt film that portrays the lives of an ordinary family, discussing everyday experiences with a universal appeal. Its themes are relatable to families worldwide, irrespective of their cultural background. The movie beautifully illustrates that the dream of Mars transcends borders and is a shared aspiration for humanity as a whole.

Poignant Brazilian film about the everyday struggle of a middle class black Brazilian family in Minas Gerais state. The characters are memorable, and so is the soundtrack, photography... The producer company ("Filmes de Plástico") is responsible for some of the best contemporary Brazilian coinema. Their titles usually deal in a very subdued way about the contradictions of Brazilian society - racism, poverty, homophobia -, as well as universal themes - love, family -, in a small-to-medium city landscape, such as Contagem, in Minas Gerais. This film is a far cry from the louder Brazilian films of the 80s or 90s, but not less creative for that.

Great film.

The Brazilian movies that become international rarely show a view of their middle class. We can almost see the middle class subdivision.

Brasil is a country with a very open mind and mentality were tabus almost don't exist. Exept when you are talking about football.

This movie is not just the power of dreams but the clash beetween diferent dreams were diferent but similar personalities interact. The past the present and the future that help to build that dreams showing how much the world changed in 3 generations.

In a overcrowed society the ammount of good people looks like a miracle.

Everything somehow fits perfectly on the narrative and in the end felt that, if this was a 5 hour movie I still want to watch a little bit more.

Brilliant.